New England Patriots Training Camp, Day 10: Crable, Warren, Seymour all return to practice

August 10, 12:41 AMNew England Patriots ExaminerSean Crowe

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Richard Seymour is happy to return to practice.
(AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

If Belichick can give his players a day and a half off, I can certainly take two days off from my Examiner reporting duties.

Bill Belichick showed off his softer side and cut short day nine of training camp, giving the guys the second of their two scheduled practices off.

Meanwhile, the combination of an early Saturday and a late ending to a painful Red Sox game led to your friendly neighborhood Patriots Examiner not getting his nightly training camp report written.

On Saturday, like the Patriots, we had a planned day off. On Sunday, like the Patriots, we returned to work by reporting on a report by the Boston Herald. Baby steps.

So what happened Sunday in camp?

We told you that Bill Belichick implied that nobody on the PUP list was all that serious and all were relatively close to a return.

Belichick, it turns out, wasn’t kidding.

Sunday saw the return of Ty Warren, Shawn Crable, Richard Seymour, Tully Banta-Cain, Ryan O’Callaghan, and Myron Pryor.

File this in the “It doesn’t pay to miss time in training camp” category: While injured, Tully Banta-Cain and Shawn Crable watched the Patriots trade for Derrick Burgess, who immediately became the favorite to win the starting position they were fighting to win. Ryan O’Callaghan, meanwhile, was lapped on the depth chart by surprising rookie Sebastian “Sea Bass” Volmer.

Burgess, by the way, practiced with his new team on Sunday. He was sporting jersey number 49, and looked more than relieved to get out of Oakland.

Think about that transition. You go from the worst organization in the league to the best organization in the league (for the record, Detroit and Cincinnati are worse than Oakland, but I refuse to acknowledge their existence unless the Patriots happen to be playing them that week).

You go from a team good for at least 10 losses every season to a team that would be disappointed with 10 wins. From NFL purgatory to NFL royalty. From Tom Cable to Bill Belichick.

You get the point.

Just an observation, but when the offense goes up against the defense in redzone drills, the offense definitely has the advantage. That’s a good thing, as the offense struggled in the redzone last season. It could also be considered a bad thing, since the defense struggled in the redzone last year as well.

But I’m a glass-half-full guy.

Speaking of the redzone, TE Alex Smith is going to be a tremendous redzone target this season.

Add defensive tackle Ron Brace to the list of players who have looked good in camp. Between him and Vollmer, it looks like the Patriots got themselves a couple of steels on the defensive and offensive lines in the second round of April’s draft.

In the most entertaining part of Sunday’s practice, the defense and offense switched roles. In a “loser takes a lap” challenge, Jonathan Wilhite lined up at quarterback, hitting Darius Butler for a touchdown. Though, really, that’s unfair, as Butler could probably be the third or fourth best wide receiver on some NFL teams. In the end, the offense ended up taking a lap while the defense left the field convinced they could put up 30 points a game if given the opportunity.

Pretty entertaining stuff. 

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Questions? Comments? Insults? You can email them to Sean Crowe at scrowe@gmail.com.